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How the Facebook IPO could help the Boston Phoenix
By adamg on Fri, 05/18/2012 - 7:52am
The shrinking Phoenix Media Group still has one possible ace in the hole - a patent lawsuit against Facebook that, if successful, would give it ownership over one of the most fundamental parts of social networking.
At issue is a patent held by Phoenix subsidiary People2People on the concept of creating a personal page on a Web site.
People2People, then known as Tele-Publishing, Inc., sued Facebook in 2009, because Facebook, of course, lets users build personal pages.
If the Phoenix wins the suit, the IPO could mean buckets of cash in damages for the Phoenix, which in recent weeks has been busy shedding pieces of itself, most recently WFNX.
Or maybe the newly cash-infused Facebook could simply pay the Phoenix to make the suit go away, in the form of a lucrative licensing deal - in much the same way the Phoenix got several alt weeklies to license another Phoenix patent.
The Phoenix lawsuit seemed about ready to collapse last year when a federal patent examiner ruled the patent invalid based on earlier work involving the creation of online profiles. But earlier this year, the federal Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences reinstated the patent, saying the earlier work cited by the examiner did not really let users change the look of their profile pages or control who gets to see those pages, as the Phoenix patent does.
To date, however, Facebook has shown little inclination to back down. Not long after the Phoenix filed its suit, Facebook countered with its own patent suit, alleging that, among other things, a Phoenix search engine that lets users specify exactly what sort of sex acts they want to see in X-rated videos violates a Facebook search patent.
In both lawsuits, judges ordered the two sides to try to resolve their cases through mediation. And in both cases, the two sites recently reported they were unable to reach agreement.
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Comments
Ah patent trolling.
Ah patent trolling.
The more likely scenario here
The more likely scenario here is that Facebook crushes the Phoenix.
Since I hate patent trolling, gotta admit, I'm rooting for FB on this one.
Indeed
Isn't "personal page on a web site" happen with every web site you visit? Sounds like an awfully broad patent...
Is this really patent trolling?
It's not like the Phoenix is out there acquiring thousands of patents from defunct companies with the intent to sue deep pockets. This is a bit different from pure patent trolling in my opinion.
On the other hand, I do think the failings at the Phoenix have more to do with the fact that it sucks and is best known for pimp services, none of which has anything to do with Facebook. So there is at least a smidgen of validity to your claim.
Fine
Misuse of patents?
Honestly, the system has been so corrupted and captured it makes no sense anymore. You can now patent an "idea", which seems to fly in the face of what patents were intended for.
You should be able to copywrite specific code that compiled does an action. But you shouldn't be able to patent some amorphous idea like slide to unlock. Or view a personal page. It's ridiculous.
In the IT world there's a
In the IT world there's a history of patent trolling which involves overly broad patents for basic ideas, like "personal page on a web site" and then using those patents to extort some money out of other companies. This is what the Phoenix is doing IMO. They've got this ridiculously broad patent and are trying to use it to get Facebook to give them some go away money.
How is this patent trolling?
When I think of patent trolling, I mean those companies whose business is to acquire a large portfolio of various patents solely for the purpose of selling licenses. In this case, it sounds like the Phoenix sub (people2people), applied and was granted a patent for technology related to its business and that it is properly asserting its rights against someone it believes is an infringer. As Neumie would say, "what's wrong with that?"
what's wrong with
"creating a personal page on a Web site."
Guess Adam better hire some lawyers!
Really, how is that a valid patent? How has it come to this?
A valid patent would be a proprietary machine or independent process by which The Phoenix was able to create a personal page on a Web site that didn't use any 3rd party lower level abstract language to build it, since otherwise you're really dealing with copywrite.
They didn't build the systems to do it, and if they did they should realistically only be able to patent doing so in their language. You can't patent the Romance Novel, but you can copywrite the assembly of specific words creating that specific novel. And if someone else writes a similar Romance novel, you can't do much unless they copied it verbatim, even if the end use is the same.
Patent laws and copywrite really has become a mess as old judges don't understand the contemporary issues with computer devices, and as industry has bought itself and handful of other judges.
I think you're using too
I think you're using too narrow a definition of patent trolling, one which limits the practice to large companies (or at least ones with large portfolios) and which precludes them from doing anything other than making money off of those patents. One of the aspects of patent trolling in the IT industry is the use of overly broad patents to essentially try and blackmail other companies into giving you money. The point of a suit, or threat of a suit, isn't to protect your proprietary process, but rather to get the target to give you some money to go away. That seems to be what the Phoenix is doing here. The patent referenced "creating a personal page on a web site" is ridiculously broad and doesn't describe a technical process but rather a general concept. The Phoenix isn't, presumably, trying to shut down Facebook, but rather trying to get Zuckerberg to give them some money to go away. That seems like blatant patent trolling to me.
I don't have any problem with
someone who comes up with an idea, turns the idea into a product, gets a patent for the product and then goes around squeezing license fees out of infringers. The rationale for our patent system is to promote innovation by giving inventors exclusive rights to their inventions for a limited time. What induces most inventors to invest the time, energy and resources into innovation is the prospect of making money from their inventions. That system has been effective in promoting innovation in the US. What I have a problem with are companies whose reason for being is to acquire as many patents from other people as they can to use to beat third parties into buying licenses from them. These companies have nothing to do with innovation and are far removed from the rationale for the patent system, which is "to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts."
A victory wouldn't really help "The Phoenix..."
...it'd just put more money in the Mindichs' pockets.